How many fish i can add to my tank?

[Bluefreshfish]

Hello

I have a 180 Liter which houses 2 sumatra barbs and 5 other fishes.

I want to add 6 fishes .Is that ok?


Thanks in advance

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum

I think you definitely have space to add more fish, I would start by getting your groups of Barbs upto at least 6 of each species. When you say Sumatra Barb - is this the same as Tiger Barbs? I would get many more of these if so as they can be quite aggressive and nippy.

I'm not sure which product it is that you are adding but if your tank is a few months you wont need to add those kind of things as your filter will be thriving with bacteria by its self. Do you know the name of it?

Wills

 

[ecarso10]

Hi,

I am new to this but the pet shop told me about a points system.

They said as my tank is 100 litres I have 50 points. Each fish carries a number of points (e.g.guppies are 2 each). He told me how many points I have left (22) and to check the points numbers on the fish labels on the tanks and nit to exceed my 50.

That was at Pets at Home and I don’t know if that’s a universal thing or just how they do it

 

[Bluefreshfish]

i google it , it has two names

it's a product to clear ammoniacal nitrite and nitrate

the other is tetra aquasafe it removes chlorine and chloramine from tap water .

 

[Wills]

Hi,

I am new to this but the pet shop told me about a points system.

They said as my tank is 100 litres I have 50 points. Each fish carries a number of points (e.g.guppies are 2 each). He told me how many points I have left (22) and to check the points numbers on the fish labels on the tanks and nit to exceed my 50.

That was at Pets at Home and I don’t know if that’s a universal thing or just how they do it

I think they are trying to rationalise the inch per gallon into a points system. Its always as a guide though I intially wanted to criticise it because I dont really trust Pets at Home with fish but so long as you research your fish before buying and get advice its not a terrible system... just a little simplistic.

 

[Essjay]

The points system does not mention the fact that shoaling fish need to be kept in groups of at least 6 and that nippy fish need to be kept in groups bigger than that.

Tiger barbs (sumatra barbs) are one of the nippiest fish in the hobby. There should be at least 12 to 15 of them to try and keep the nipping within their own group. Ideally, they should be the only fish in the tank.
I would do one of two things - rehome all the other fish and get more tiger barbs, or rehome the tiger barbs and increase the numbers of gold barbs and rosy barbs to at least 6 of each.

 

[Bluefreshfish]

Thanks for the answer and can i add mollies in your opinion?

 

[Essjay]

Yes, mollies are fine at your GH and with the other fish. You need to be careful to have more females than males, or all males or all females. Male mollies (like the other common livebearers) have one track minds so keeping more females than males gives every female chance to have time out while the males harass other females.

 

[Bluefreshfish]

thank you for your reply

I think i'm going to add
mollies and sumatra barb .What do you think?

 

[kwi]

Once you start doing more research you realise how poor the points system is. They need to add minimum tank sizes as well......
My local pets at home, it's a regular stop to look at the fish and bunnies with the kids, had a brilliant fish guy who actually kept fish and was planning a marine tank last I spoke to him. He's gone.
The current guy told me a too big filter would cause too much water pressure and break a tank........

 

[Essjay]

The barbs all need to be in groups of at least 6 of each species. That's 6 gold barbs and 6 rosy barbs, preferably more.

A single sumatra/tiger barb could wreak havoc as these fish need a group of at least 12 to try to stop them nipping the other fish.

 

[Bluefreshfish]

But i can't do that i don't have enough space and i can't give them no one want them where i live ...

 

[Essjay]

Can you take the sumatra/tiger barbs back to the shop?

Your tank can easily hold 6 gold barbs (minimum tank length 90 cm) and 6 rosy barbs (minimum tank length 100 cm) in a Rio 180 (101 cm long)

 

[Byron]

As others have mentioned, you cannot add mollies because you have other species that must have a group of each species, the barbs.

 

[Bluefreshfish]

they don't want them back
i thought about adding 1-2 fish of each species to maintain a balance and fill my tank

what do you suggest ? how many fish by species ?